Amsterdam, July 29, 2021: Phenix Capital has today released its Impact Report: Deep Dive on Infrastructure Funds. The report finds that between 2015 and 2020, €44 billion has been committed to Infrastructure impact funds tracked by Phenix Capital’s Impact Database. Infrastructure funds which are currently open for investments are targeting a total of €35 billion. Additionally, infrastructure is the biggest category of real assets, with over 65% of the historical capital commitments to this asset class.
Across all asset classes, the number of impact funds has declined in 2020 compared to 2019. Specifically, within Infrastructure, 22 impact funds were launched in 2020 compared to 34 the previous year. Despite a drop in capital committed, Infrastructure impact funds launched so far in 2021 alone are expected to raise €11 billion.
“Infrastructure has historically been an attractive asset class for institutional investors due to its predictable cash flows and inflation-hedging capabilities and nowadays this can be easily coupled with an impact proposition. This is especially true in the renewable energy sector, thanks to the growing expertise of specialised fund managers that have diversified across regions and technologies. Asset owners can thus make contributions towards the energy transition or decarbonisation targets whilst still targeting market-rate returns”, said Dirk Meuleman, CEO of Phenix Capital Group.
► Read the Impact Report: Deep Dive on Infrastructure Funds here
The report provides in-depth breakdowns of recent trends in impact investing within the Infrastructure asset class, focusing on funds with vintage years between 2015 and 2020. Next to the insights and analytics provided by Phenix Capital's Impact Database, the report also features interviews with practitioners managing renewable energy funds from SUSI Partners.
Renewable energy is the most represented sector of investment for both closed and open Infrastructure impact funds. Of the total historical capital commitments towards the asset class, 40% were made towards renewable energy infrastructure, while 31% of the current fundraising targets will be earmarked to the sector.
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy is the most targeted goal, both historically and for future investments, closely followed by SDG 13: Climate Action. In addition to renewable energy, social infrastructure and climate solutions are the main sectors targeted by both closed and open Infrastructure impact funds. The publication further details the evolution of capital commitments across markets and regions.
“We are now entering phase two of the transition to renewable energy, which is much more diverse, global, technology-intensive and systemic rather than focused on just power generation. So, we believe there remains a lot to be done and are looking forward to playing a constructive part in this”, said Marco van Daele, Co-CEO & CIO of SUSI Partners.
There are currently 260 Infrastructure impact funds from 125 different fund managers tracked on Impact Database. Out of these, 102 funds from 86 fund managers are currently open for investments.
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Phenix Capital Group is an impact investment consultant that enables institutional investors to make impact investments. Founded in 2012, the company has been dedicated to building a solid knowledge based for the impact investing industry, educating asset owners, and catalysing institutional capital to impact investing.
Phenix Capital’s Impact Database provides investors with access to and intelligence on the impact fund market opportunities available to them. Three main variables used to construct, monitor and update the dataset: funds considered have an impact proposition; institutional scale; and target market-rate returns. Impact Database now includes detailed overview of more than 1,700+ impact funds.
For more information or interview requests, please feel free to contact our team at info@phenixcapitalgroup.com or call + 31 20 240 27 31.
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